Category Archives: Food

Miller Union, thanks to Kyle’s recommendation from way up yonder. They had ginger-blueberry soda ($3.50) and also a fig-herb one. (I didn’t try them; hearing about them was delicious enough.) I ordered the veggie plate without even asking what was on it. It wasn’t an inexpensive lunch for 2, but it was worth every penny.

Talk about exceeding expectations. The "farmers market vegetable plate" from Seasons 52, which is known for its small portions. I was ashamed to leave 2/3 of this on the plate, because it was good. That's tofu with tomato tapenade at the bottom. And some sort of root vegetable upper right.

Zippers and crookneck squash with deelish Vidalia onions from Jaemor Farms. Pierce's tomatoes. And OK, the rice is leftover from Mirage, but maybe it's a southern Iran kind of rice. That is one pretty plate.

“What’s seasonal vegetable farroto?” I asked our server. I was hoping farroto meant veggie plate. This was good: farro with a cream sauce over barely wilted kale with nice peas, over-roasted cauliflower and assorted ‘shrooms. And a perfect small lunch portion. But it’s not this.

“I don’t like change,” said my lunch colleague, who was looking for the salmon croquettes on the new menu, which seemed to me to have a lot of fried seafood. (I never liked those salmon croquettes anyway. My own are better.) But honestly, the new chef wasn’t doing very well with the old menu. And Farm Burger next door is eating their lunch. It has a line out the door while Watershed sits almost empty.

Looking through the pics on my phone, I came across all this pretty food from week before last or so…

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Leon’s Full Service in downtown Decatur after Jane and I showed up for Diane’s funeral a week early. Mirage during Neil’s quick visit to the ‘burbs. It was St. Patrick’s Day, but who wants Irish when you can have Persian? My monthly Ege after the Foundation board meeting. We are usually in the minority among Japanese folks here, but days after the earthquake, the place was packed, and I was wondering if people from Japan needed to be with others from their country. Total speculation, but people were actually waiting at the door at 9:30 on a Monday night.

I’m tired of complaining that I can’t grow veggies here — and I’m sure anyone who knows me is sick of hearing it, too. Hell, we’ve lived in this house almost 20 years.

What if I plant early-season things, it occurred to me, that will get in much of their growing season before the leaves come out on the trees in early to mid-April? I see no freeze in the 10-day forecast, at least. I’ve been watching this spot out my office window, where we cut down the trees a year and a half ago, and I think I can get 5 or 6 hours of sun in parts of it.

So I ordered spinach and beets and cabbage and chard. Seeds. I’ve never grown a-one of these things, and neither did my mother. Doubt either of my grandfathers ever did spinach or chard, either.

I had this one weekend with nothing scheduled, and it turned out to be beautiful, so I got out just before noon to get going. Dan caught me dragging scrap lumber out from under the house to use to level out the spot, didn’t like that, and decided to live up to Lyta’s praise for him. I warned him that this whole thing may be folly, but he went to HomeyD and built me a proper frame.

I did get Tom to dig out one boulder, and hauled Warren and a few friends out of the street to move it, but I’ve got some stumps someone needs to help me with. Because the tree guys spread a heapin helpin of chipped-up tree, on top of what was loamy woods already, the dirt is very dark and soft. I dug out all the rocks and roots, then headed to handy Amy’s to borrow her tiller.

When I saw the thing I almost laughed. A teeny attachment to a weed wacker. Wheels/till maybe 6-8 inches across. Nothing like the big two-handled tractor things I’m accustomed to. But let me tell you, it did the job! Took me about 20 (exhausting) minutes to dig up the patch.

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Tomorrow, I’ll mix in my wheelbarrow of compost and a bag or so of Darleen’s chicken whacky. And put those pretty little seeds in and see what happens. Stay tuned …